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Six arrested for conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

Six men were arrested and charged federally with conspiring to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. They planned to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home in the Western District of Michigan according to the complaint.

Of the six, five – Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta – are residents of Michigan while Barry Croft is a Delaware resident. Under federal law, each faces any term of years up to life in prison if convicted.

“All of us can disagree about politics, but those disagreements should never, ever result in violence. The allegations in this complaint are deeply disturbing. We owe our thanks to the men and women of law enforcement who uncovered this plot and have worked so hard to protect Governor Whitmer,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider.

The FBI began an investigation earlier this year after becoming aware through social media that a group of individuals was discussing the violent overthrow of certain government and law enforcement components, according to the federal complaint in this case. Through confidential sources, undercover agents, and clandestine recordings, law enforcement learned that particular individuals were planning to kidnap the Governor and acting in furtherance of that plan.

This group used operational security measures, including communicating by encrypted messaging platforms and used code words and phrases to avoid detection. On two occasions, members of the alleged conspiracy conducted coordinated surveillance on the Governor’s vacation home. Fox and Croft discussed detonating explosive devices to divert police from the area of the vacation home and Fox even inspected the underside of an M-31 highway bridge for places to seat an explosive.

Fox also purchased a taser for use in the kidnapping and the group even successfully detonated an improvised explosive device wrapped with shrapnel to test its anti-personnel capabilities, the complaint further alleges. The FBI and Michigan State Police executed arrests as multiple conspirators met to pool funds for explosives and exchange tactical gear.

“These alleged extremists undertook a plot to kidnap a sitting governor. Whenever extremists move into the realm of actually planning violent acts, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force stands ready to identify, disrupt and dismantle their operations, preventing them from following through on those plans,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Josh P. Hauxhurst.

The investigation is ongoing. Agents of the Detroit Field Office of the FBI and other members of their Joint Terrorism Task Force, including the Michigan State Police, are conducting the investigation. FBI Agents and JTTF members in the Baltimore Field Office of the FBI, which covers Delaware, are also involved.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan is prosecuting the federal charges. U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Eastern District of Michigan and Delaware have assisted.

Based on information developed in the investigation, State of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the simultaneous arrest of seven other individuals on state charges of providing material support of terroristic activities and of possessing a firearm in the course of that offense.

Two ‘ISIS Beatles’ charged with deaths of Americans in Syria

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

Two of the ‘ISIS Beatles’ are expected to arrive in the US today to face federal charges over jailing, torturing and beheading American hostages.

By a Biometrica staffer

Two notorious Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) militant detainees from Britain are expected to arrive in the US today to face federal charges over accusations that they jailed four American hostages and played a role in torturing and beheading them, according to a statement by the Department of Justice.

The two militants are former British nationals, and half of an ISIS cell of four Britons called “the Beatles” — a nickname bestowed by their victims because of their accents — who were known for their extreme brutality. Alexanda Amon Kotey, 36, and El Shafee Elsheikh, 32, are expected to make their initial appearances in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia this afternoon.

They were involved in the death of four Americans – journalists Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff, aid worker Peter Kassig, and human rights activist Kayla Mueller. The American government has linked the group to the kidnapping and abuse of more than two dozen hostages, some of whom were ultimately beheaded for propaganda videos.

Elsheikh apologized for his role in the “whole episode” last year when he and Kotey confessed to their parts in the ransoming of Western hostages in an interview with CNN. Kotey had declined to offer an apology but admitted to taking email addresses from European hostages and assisting in the ransom negotiations that followed with relatives and friends.

Justice Department officials and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray announced the men had been indicted on multiple charges, including hostage-taking resulting in death and conspiracy to commit murder outside the US, at a press conference. If convicted, the men could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

“These charges are the product of many years of hard work in pursuit of justice for our citizens slain by ISIS. Although we cannot bring them back, we can and will seek justice for them, their families, and for all Americans,” said Attorney General William P. Barr.

One of the other ISIS Beatles, Mohammed Emwazi, was the one who allegedly carried out the gruesome executions of the terror group’s victims. He was otherwise known as Jihadi John and was killed by a drone strike in November 2015.

The British extremists repeatedly beat the hostages they kept imprisoned in Raqqa, Syria, formerly the Islamic State’s self-declared capital, according to prosecutors. They subjected their hostages to abuses including waterboarding, mock executions, painful stress positions, food deprivation, beatings with sticks lasting 20 minutes or longer, chokeholds causing blackouts and electric shocks. They also forced their hostages to fight each other and to witness murders, the New York Times reported citing court papers.

From August 2014 through October 2014, ISIS released videos depicting Emwazi’s barbaric beheadings of Foley, Sotloff, and British citizens and aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning. In November 2014, ISIS released a video depicting the decapitated head of Kassig. In January 2015, ISIS released videos with images of two dead Japanese citizens. Mueller was sexually abused by the former “leader” of ISIS while she was held captive. Her family received an email confirming her death in early 2015, around February.

Kotey, Elsheikh, and Emwazi worked closely with Abu Muhammed al-Adnani, a former leading ISIS commander and chief media spokesperson. Until he was killed in a US military airstrike in August 2016, Adnani reported directly to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the former self-proclaimed leader of ISIS and the one responsible for sexually abusing Mueller. Baghdadi was killed during a US military operation in Syria in October 2019.

Kotey, Elsheikh, and Emwazi met repeatedly with Adnani concerning the hostage-taking scheme and other matters. Between November 2012 and February 2015, Kotey, Elsheikh, Emwazi, and other ISIS fighters committed acts inflicting pain, suffering, cruelty and mistreatment on American, British, and other hostages in captivity.  

Throughout the captivity of the American hostages and others, Kotey, Elsheikh, and Emwazi allegedly supervised detention facilities holding hostages and were responsible for transferring hostages between detention facilities, in addition to engaging in a prolonged pattern of physical and psychological violence against hostages.

“We, along with our partners in the U.S. Government, remain steadfast in our duty to bring to justice those who have harmed our citizens — no matter where they are, and no matter how long it takes. I’m grateful to the men and women of the FBI, the victims’ families, and our domestic and international partners, for their tireless efforts to bring us to where we stand today with the prosecution of these men on U.S. soil,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The indictment alleges that ISIS fighters also forcibly seized the following additional individuals: two United Kingdom citizens, an Italian citizen, a Danish citizen, a German citizen, four French citizens, three Spanish citizens, a New Zealand citizen, and a Russian citizen.

DoJ charges over 500 domestic violence-related firearm cases in FY20

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

The US Department of Justice has charged over 500 domestic violence cases involving firearms during fiscal year 2020, it said in a statement.

These charges are the result of the critical law enforcement partnership between U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, led by Acting Director Regina Lombardo, who has made domestic violence firearms-related investigations a priority, the DoJ said.

In 2019, Attorney General William P. Barr created the DoJ’s first Domestic Violence Working Group, aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of convicted abusers, using the tools of federal firearm prosecutions to prevent domestic violence.

“Keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminal offenders is one of the Department of Justice’s top priorities. This is especially important when it comes to individuals with prior domestic violence convictions. The statistics are clear that when domestic violence offenders have access to guns, their partners and their families are at much greater risk of falling victim to gun violence. In fact, in some communities across America, roughly half of the homicides are related to domestic violence,” said Attorney General Barr.

Under federal law, individuals with domestic violence misdemeanor and felony convictions, as well as individuals subject to domestic violence protective orders, are prohibited from possessing firearms. The data shows that offenders with domestic violence in their past pose a high risk of homicide. In fact, domestic violence abusers with a gun in the home are five times more likely to kill their partners.

The Working Group, chaired by U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas, disseminates legal guidance on keeping guns out of the hands of domestic violence abusers using three federal statutes:

– 18 USC § 922 (g)(1), felon in possession of a firearm

– 18 USC § 922 (g)(9), possession of a firearm by a prohibited person (misdemeanor crime of domestic violence) 

– 18 USC § 922 (g)(8), possession of a firearm while subject to a domestic violence protective order

Based on the Working Group’s guidance, in FY 2020, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide brought 337 domestic violence felon-in-possession charges, 54 possession while subject to a protective order charges, and 142 possession by a prohibited person charges.

For more information on domestic violence or to get help, visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline website or call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

DoJ awards over $1.8B in grants to victims of crimes

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

The US Department of Justice has awarded over $1.8 billion in grants to assist victims of crime nationwide, it said in a statement.

These grants were released by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), a component of the department’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) to state victim assistance and compensation programs, that in turn fund thousands of local victim assistance programs across the country and provide millions in compensation to victims of crime.

The vast majority of the over $1.6 billion in victim assistance funding goes to local direct service programs, including children’s advocacy centers, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, human trafficking and elder abuse programs, civil legal services, crime victims’ rights enforcement, as well as victim assistance positions in prosecutors’ offices and law enforcement departments.

State victim compensation programs will receive over $133 million to supplement the state funds that offset victims’ financial burdens resulting from crime. This compensation is often extremely vital to victims who face enormous financial setbacks from medical fees, lost income, dependent care, funeral expenses, and other costs.

OVC’s flagship formula grant program is supported by the Crime Victims Fund (the Fund), which was established under the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). The Fund supports programs and services that focus on helping victims in the immediate aftermath of crime and continuing to support them as they rebuild their lives. In FY 2019 alone, VOCA grants served over 7 million victims and paid more than $399 million in compensation claims.

The Fund is financed by fines and penalties paid by convicted federal offenders and does not include tax dollars. Additional information about FY 2020 grant awards made by OVC can be found here.

Former California resident sentenced for human trafficking

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

A former resident of California was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison for forced labor violations, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

Sharmistha Barai and her husband Satish Kartan were found guilty of conspiracy to obtain forced labor and two counts of obtaining forced labor after a 11-day trial by a federal jury. Kartan is scheduled to be sentenced on October 22.

Between February 2014 and October 2016, Kartan and Barai hired workers from overseas to perform domestic labor in their home in Stockton. In advertisements seeking workers on the internet and India-based newspapers, the defendants made false claims about the wages and conditions of employment.

Once the workers arrived at the defendants’ Stockton residence, Kartan and Barai compelled them to work up to 18 hours a day with limited rest and nourishment. Few of them were paid any wage. The defendants kept the domestic workers from leaving and coerced them to continue working by threatening them, creating an atmosphere of fear, control, and disempowerment, and at times by physically hitting or burning them. When a victim resisted or expressed a desire to leave, the threats and abuse became worse.

“No human being should be lured into servitude with promises of employment. This form of human trafficking is heart wrenching: victims are often assaulted and live their lives in fear behind closed doors where escape seems all but impossible,” said SAC Sean Ragan of the FBI Sacramento Field Office.

Members of videogame piracy group ‘Team Xecuter’ arrested

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

Two leaders of ‘Team Xecuter,’ one of the world’s most notorious videogame piracy groups, have been arrested and are in custody facing charges in Seattle, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. The group grew so brazen over the years, that it allegedly made its customers even purchase a “license” to unlock features so they could play pirated videogames.

Team Xecuter developed and sold illegal devices that hacked popular videogame consoles so they could be used to play unauthorized, or pirated, copies of videogames. The criminal enterprise targeted popular consoles such as the Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition, the Sony PlayStation Classic, and the Microsoft Xbox.

Its leaders Max Louarn – a French national of Avignon, Yuanning Chen – a Chinese national of Shenzhen, and Gary Bowser – a Canadian national of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, were charged in a federal indictment. Louarn and Bowser were arrested abroad last month in connection with the charges in this case.

The US will seek Louarn’s extradition to stand trial in the United States. Bowser was arrested and deported from the Dominican Republic, and appeared today in federal court, in New Jersey.

Each defendant is charged with 11 felony counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to circumvent technological measures and to traffic in circumvention devices, trafficking in circumvention devices, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

“Imagine if something you invented was stolen from you and then marketed and sold to customers around the world. That is exactly what Team Xecuter was doing. This is a perfect example of why the FBI has made the prevention of the theft of intellectual property a priority. These arrests should send a message to would-be pirates that the FBI does not consider these crimes to be a game,” said Special Agent in Charge Raymond Duda of the FBI’s Seattle Field Office.

The criminal enterprise is made up of over a dozen individual members located around the world.  These members include developers who exploit vulnerabilities in videogame consoles and design circumvention devices; website designers who create the various websites that promote the enterprise’s devices; suppliers who manufacture the devices; and resellers around the world who sell and distribute the devices.

Due to the illegal nature of its business, Team Xecuter continuously sought to evade enforcement efforts by victim companies, financial institutions, and law enforcement, the indictment says. It attempted to protect its overall business by using a wide variety of brands, websites, and distribution channels. From June 2013 through August 2020, Team Xecuter used a variety of product names for its devices, such as the Gateway 3DS, the Stargate, the TrueBlue Mini, the Classic2Magic, and the SX line of devices that included the SX OS, the SX Pro, the SX Lite, and the SX Core.

At times, the criminal enterprise cloaked its illegal activity with a purported desire to support gaming enthusiasts who wanted to design their own videogames for noncommercial use. But the overwhelming demand and use for its products was to play pirated videogames. To support this illegal activity, Team Xecuter allegedly helped create and support online libraries of pirated videogames for its customers, and several of the enterprise’s devices came preloaded with numerous pirated videogames.

10 sentenced to prison for child exploitation enterprise & conspiracy

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

Ten men from around the US have been sentenced for taking part in a child pornography enterprise and conspiracy, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. Of the ten, three are based in New York, two in Washington, and one each from New Jersey, Kansas, North Carolina, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Between November 2016 and July 2018, these defendants and other co-conspirators outside of the US utilized chatrooms on the online service ‘Discord’ to produce and exchange child pornography.  Discord is an app designed for online gaming communities that allows users to engage in text chat and share images and videos. These chatrooms were accessed by invitation only.

Those who gained access to the chatrooms actively worked together to identify social media platforms and profiles of minor females, including girls as young as 10 years old, and strategized how to convince the children to engage in sexually explicit activity via live web camera. The group targeted live-streaming video chat applications such as Live.Me, Periscope, YouNow, Kik, Musically and Snapchat to target and entice the minors.

While pretending to be minor boys and girls, the defendants streamed pre-recorded videos of other underage minors engaging in similar conduct to the targeted victims, in an effort to get the minors to believe they were watching a live video of someone their own age. The victims were unaware that they were communicating with adult men who were recording their sexually explicit activity.

After successfully recording a victim, the defendants shared the sexually explicit videos with each other by uploading the files to file-storage sites and placing a link to download the file on a section of their members-only chatroom. Until date, 172 minor victims have been positively identified.

Four of the co-conspirators each pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and one count of advertising child pornography. Three of the co-conspirators pleaded guilty to one count of advertising child pornography. Two of the co-conspirators pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise. Additionally, one defendant, who was prosecuted in the Western District of Washington pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, one count of producing child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. The case is part of Project Safe Childhood. Launched in May 2006 by the DoJ, Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children online, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

The full list of defendants and co-conspirators can be found in the DoJ’s statement.

Two US citizens charged for giving ISIS material support

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

Two US citizens have been charged for providing material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization. They were detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and had recently been transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

Born in Trinidad & Tobago, Emraan Ali was charged in a complaint with providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS. Nineteen-year old Jihad Ali, born in New York, was charged in a complaint with conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS. Both defendants had their initial appearances on Wednesday in federal court in the Southern District of Florida.

Emraan Ali traveled to Syria with his family, which included his son Jihad Ali, to join ISIS in March 2015. Both he and his son received military and religious training and served as fighters in support of the terrorist organization.

In addition to serving as a fighter, Emraan Ali served in various other roles in support of ISIS. Emraan Ali, 53, and Jihad Ali finally surrendered to the SDF near Baghuz in March 2019, during the last sustained ISIS battles to maintain territory in Syria.

DoJ awards over $92M to support reintegration of offenders

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

The US Department of Justice announced awards of over $92 million to reduce recidivism among adults and juvenile offenders returning to their communities after confinement.

Recidivism is the inclination of a convicted criminal to reoffend. The awards were announced by the DoJ’s Office of Justice Programs. OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded the grants to jurisdictions, research institutions and other organizations in support of proven science-based approaches to reintegrate offenders into communities.

“Former offenders are ultimately responsible for their own successes and failures, but our criminal and juvenile justice systems have an important role to play in preparing them for the obstacles that lie before them. I’m very pleased to make these resources available to help offenders get back on their feet and contribute to the prosperity of their communities and the betterment of our nation. I saw these programs work first hand in my time as a judge and am so grateful for the hard-working people who are helping our re-entering population.” OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan

Fiscal Year 2020 re-entry and recidivism reduction grants awarded include the following:

– More than $71.4 million under BJA’s grant programs designed to help communities develop and implement comprehensive and collaborative strategies to address the challenges posed by re-entry and recidivism.

– More than $11.2 million under OJJDP’s Second Chance Act suite of grant programs to support re-entry services for detained juveniles and incarcerated parents with children under the age of 18.

– More than $9.3 million under NIJ’s re-entry research and evaluation programs, which support rigorous research to advance understanding about reoffending and the success of re-entry strategies, programs and practices. This includes evaluating innovative re-entry initiatives that specifically focus on juveniles, young adults and adults with a moderate-to-high risk of reoffending.

The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, assist victims and enhance the rule of law by strengthening the criminal and juvenile justice systems.

For the complete list of individual grant programs, amounts to be awarded, and the jurisdictions that will receive funding, click here.

Georgia man sentenced for running Ponzi scheme

Posted on by kmurali@biometrica.com

By a Biometrica staffer

A man from Georgia has been sentenced to 5 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for running a Ponzi scheme that ensnared over a hundred victims, including college students, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

Syed Arham Arbab, 23, was also ordered to pay $509,032.12 in restitution to his victims. Arbab pleaded guilty in October 2019 to one count of securities fraud. He admitted that for a year from May 2018 he solicited investors while enrolled at the University of Georgia campus, many of whom were his fellow students, to invest in his entities – Artis Proficio Capital Management and Artis Proficio Capital Investments (collectively, APC), which he told investors were “hedge funds.”

Arbab admitted that he convinced around 117 investors in Georgia and other states to invest funds with him and APC, and that he made material misrepresentations to those investors in order to induce them to invest and maintain their investments with him.

He misrepresented the funds’ returns, the number of investors, the total funds invested and the nature of the investment plays being made. He also admitted fabricating account statements.  Victims invested roughly $1 million with him in the course of his scheme, with Arbab falsely promising returns as high as 22% or 56%, when his overall returns were nowhere near these amounts.

Arbab offered some investors a seemingly risk-free “guarantee” on the first $15,000 invested, and the majority of investors, especially those who were students or younger professionals, invested less than this amount, believing that even if Arbab’s investment choices proved unsound or the market behaved unpredictably, they would still be paid back their entire principal investment.

He admitted that he knew he did not have the liquid capital to make good on these guarantees when he made them, but did not disclose this to his investors. Further, when Arbab learned that some prospective investors were UGA football fans, he told them that a famous NFL player and UGA alumnus was an investor in the fund, when in fact the football player had never invested with APC.

Arbab also misrepresented that he was an MBA candidate at UGA’s Terry College of Business, when in reality he had applied to and been rejected by UGA’s MBA program. He was operating the fund primarily from his fraternity house as an undergraduate.

He spent investor funds on personal expenses, including clothing, shoes, retail purchases, fine dining, alcoholic beverages, adult entertainment and interstate travel, including spending thousands of dollars gambling during three trips to Las Vegas in 2018 and 2019.

Individuals who believe that they may be a victim in this case should visit the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness website for more information here.